But didn't he himself admit the distraction over his contract harmed the team?

Wasn't it other people (media, anti-Wenger supporters) making his contract a distraction? I can't recall him or the club making it a big issue. Between them they surely knew all along he would sign a new one. It must have been what the club and he wanted, otherwise he would be gone. The media and the anti brigade whipped up a storm in a tea cup.

If that was the case, wouldn't it have been quietly signed ages ago? Then it wouldn't have damaged the team so much, which Wenger has admitted it did. Perhaps the likelihood is stronger than you think that there was a boardroom split, and some directors wanted a change in management structure. Wenger, and I'll use the word again, it would appear didn't want one, and delayed signing it until he had assurances from Kroenke senior that there would be no restructuring.

My use of the word 'apparently' is a safeguard against stating something as a firm fact, when it is strong rumour from various sources. What do you think were the reasons for his delay in signing then (the delay was a fact)? After all, quite a few times you yourself asked here what a new director of football would do, so you presumably saw something in the strong rumours Gazidis and others wanted one.

Whatever the reasons for Wenger's "delay" in signing a contract, they have bugger all to do with Alexis, Özil and Ox and their current contract negotiations. The notion that any of them would run down their contract to the last few weeks because that is what Wenger did is absurd.

Players' contracts are influenced by the transfer market. There is no transfer market for managers. Alexis and Özil have been offered very lucrative contracts. If they don't sign, it is on them. I'd reckon Ox has been offered something good too. With the nature of the transfer market, the club can only do so much. It ultimately comes down to the players and their agents.

You and a number of others have some difficulty understanding that all they need to do is see out their contract. It is a 'çontract' - that is an agreement of minds at the time it was entered into. Because the club might want to ask them to enter a new contract does not mean they have to sign it. They are not holding anyone to ransome. They can take less pay for another year and then chose who employs them. This is a basic human right.

The uncomfortable fact is that then the club gets nothing for them. So it is the club who has the problem and want to make money out of them by selling before their contract ends..

Will the Ox, Özil or Sanchez put in less effort if they do not extend. It is WC year - they will all give 100% to ensure they get to go to the WC. I back all of them to put in a greater work effort than Theo has ever done or some of the other passengers we have at the club.

_________________If this policy does not deliver then I would say we have to change it. AW 150810

So.............are we going to make a massive statement in this transfer window or will it be a case of what ifs and missed opportunities?

Answers on a postcard please.

Waiting to see whether Alexis and or Özil sign before making recruitment decisions is all well and good but in the mean time the clock is ticking, players will be heading elsewhere and the list of possiblities will be dwindling both in terms of quality and numbers.

You can't use articles like this on this forum otherwise OMOH and half a dozen others will go into shock. Every word of the article truly reflects our current position. I await their defence.

I would have thought our current position should be that when negotiating we tell the likely target that Özil & Sanchez may not be at the club. It is an opportunity for you to shine if you come to the club. If they are here then that is a bonus. If either or both of them go then the club must, not should, replace like with like. even if they have to spend a lot of money. Open the personal cheque book Kroenke.

In relation to the other players listed they should be spoken to immediately and told the situation. That is either an offer made or put them on the market. Given that Per, Santi, Wilshire and the Ox are in this group the situation is urgent. Simply Wengers negligence is by itself a sackable offence at every place other than Arsenal.

Don't anyone give me the BS that we are a well run club. We are not. Succession planning -0/10,governance 2/10, having a transparent strategic plan 1/10. Making a profit 7/10 (remember our deals with clothing makers etc are pretty poor). Well run organisation - you are having a laugh.

Wenger might love the club but he lacks courage. Remember when you have to make the heart breaking decision to pu

_________________If this policy does not deliver then I would say we have to change it. AW 150810

As much as I would really like Mbappe, I can't help but think with that sort of fee 110+ we could also get 3 great players to strengthen the team.

Isn't he supposed to have said he's set his heart on joining Real Madrid? If so, I wouldn't worry about it the possibility of signing other players for less money too much. I suspect it's the only option Arsenal will have.

I don't have any sympathy for the club because we've allowed contracts to run down and are now either being faced with losing top players for a fraction of their true worth or having to pay them far more than they are actually worth to keep them knowing that we'd have to fork out evn bigger transfer fees to attempt to replace them.

I've said before, it's a right mess.

If our transfer activities are indeed frozen because of the uncertainty surrounding Alexis and Özil then it seems like the tail is wagging the dog.

Don't anyone give me the BS that we are a well run club. We are not. Succession planning -0/10, governance 2/10, having a transparent strategic plan 1/10. Making a profit 7/10 (remember our deals with clothing makers etc are pretty poor). Well run organisation - you are having a laugh.

Some might think you're being rather over-generous with your score for governance.

Don't anyone give me the BS that we are a well run club. We are not. Succession planning -0/10, governance 2/10, having a transparent strategic plan 1/10. Making a profit 7/10 (remember our deals with clothing makers etc are pretty poor). Well run organisation - you are having a laugh.

Some might think you're being rather over-generous with your score for governance.

It is to stop OMOH saying I have no heart.

_________________If this policy does not deliver then I would say we have to change it. AW 150810

I don't have any sympathy for the club because we've allowed contracts to run down and are now either being faced with losing top players for a fraction of their true worth or having to pay them far more than they are actually worth to keep them knowing that we'd have to fork out evn bigger transfer fees to attempt to replace them.

I've said before, it's a right mess.

If our transfer activities are indeed frozen because of the uncertainty surrounding Alexis and Özil then it seems like the tail is wagging the dog.

Morning SocWhole situation is ridiculous. Why say you want to keep a player and want to make him the future of the club before the cup final then don't even offer him a new contract to the point where he has a year left in reference to Oxlade Chamberlain. If I was him I'd be proper p***** off. Its like say one thing or do another. Getting sick and tired of this Özil and Sanchez saga. Don't let them hold us to ransom. If they wont stay then sell them. That 80 to 90 million can further go to strengthening the squad. They are not bigger than the club. Cant afford to let whole saga drag on at the whim of these 2.We just seem to come across as so amateur sometimes.

OMOH here, borrowing Bernard's computer. It's far too early in the summer to be sure what's going to happen in the transfer market so after due consideration of the article Rich, I am defining it as so uncertain in its potential accuracy it needs the word 'apparently' in the headline.

Bernard back, taking over from hoy at the keyboard. Did anyone seriously think this isn't how things will probably turn out once Wenger got his new contract? The writing wasn't just on the wall in terms of a bit of graffiti put there with spray paint on the entrance of Drayton Park train station. It was engraved with chisels along the entire distance of the great wall of China.

Essentially it's a guide to mild-manneredness tm and how even when you think catastrophe is staring you in the face it's time to just let things crinkle out, whittle yourself a kipper, and maybe hum The Surrey with the fringe on top while musing over that wonderful double-winning Tottenham side and just take things sunny-side up because in the end it don't add up to a whole hill of beans in this crazy world of ours.

What will be will be, all in good time, the time to cut a stick is when you've considered it for a while, somebody will come along to make the old onion bag bulge again, keep them doggies moving etc.

The manage may move. He may not move. And that's fine because tectonic shifts do not happen overnight.

Its a bit like Brexit. All this caterwauling from fancy-dan experts about shafting the economy and unleashing xenophobia yet I think they'll be sneering on the other side of their metro-faces when we unveil the big bilateral bad boy of a new trade deal with St Vincent and the Grenadines.

So read my book for an introduction to fun relaxing games like "Tweak the Bern" and "D'ye ken Ted Drake?' as well as songs to sing with the family round the old Joanna like "My Sanchez lies over the Penines" and "Bobby Pires went to sea"

OMOH here, borrowing Bernard's computer. It's far too early in the summer to be sure what's going to happen in the transfer market so after due consideration of the article Rich, I am defining it as so uncertain in its potential accuracy it needs the word 'apparently' in the headline.

Bernard back, taking over from hoy at the keyboard. Did anyone seriously think this isn't how things will probably turn out once Wenger got his new contract? The writing wasn't just on the wall in terms of a bit of graffiti put there with spray paint on the entrance of Drayton Park train station. It was engraved with chisels along the entire distance of the great wall of China.

I'm just relieved that the opinion of Daniel Storey - yes, the Daniel Storey - on all matters Arsenal has finally been revealed! Spread the word! Usually, 'Il Papa' Daniel shares his sacred syllables via an encyclical, but it seems Football365 will have to do.

As much as I would really like Mbappe, I can't help but think with that sort of fee 110+ we could also get 3 great players to strengthen the team.

We haven't broken 50 mil in a transfer. Not that I want us to but we live in that type of world. Liverpool haven't broken 40 mil and I don't think Tottenham has broken 30 mil but we are supposed to be ahead of those two. We should be competing with City, Chelsea (and a resurgent Man Utd). To do that we have to show we intend to get the best players, players that changes a club and to do that, its the 75 plus market.

It's a huge risk but can we "afford" (for lack of a better word) not to?

Whatever the reasons for Wenger's "delay" in signing a contract, they have bugger all to do with Alexis, Özil and Ox and their current contract negotiations. The notion that any of them would run down their contract to the last few weeks because that is what Wenger did is absurd.

Players' contracts are influenced by the transfer market. There is no transfer market for managers. Alexis and Özil have been offered very lucrative contracts. If they don't sign, it is on them. I'd reckon Ox has been offered something good too. With the nature of the transfer market, the club can only do so much. It ultimately comes down to the players and their agents.

You and a number of others have some difficulty understanding that all they need to do is see out their contract. It is a 'çontract' - that is an agreement of minds at the time it was entered into. Because the club might want to ask them to enter a new contract does not mean they have to sign it. They are not holding anyone to ransome. They can take less pay for another year and then chose who employs them. This is a basic human right.

The uncomfortable fact is that then the club gets nothing for them. So it is the club who has the problem and want to make money out of them by selling before their contract ends..

Will the Ox, Özil or Sanchez put in less effort if they do not extend. It is WC year - they will all give 100% to ensure they get to go to the WC. I back all of them to put in a greater work effort than Theo has ever done or some of the other passengers we have at the club.

I have no difficulty at all in understanding that they can play out their contracts. However, footballers' contracts operate in a considerably different way to the normal business world. If I am contracted to do a piece of work, no rival company is going to pay my current employers multiples of my earnings just for me to go work for them. You cannot pretend that transfer fees do not exist and likewise you cannot ignore the fact that players' agents will use the nature of the transfer market to leverage better deals for their players, be that with current club or another. The power rests with the players and of course very very few of them ever finish out a contract unless they are well past their best.

Interesting to hear the alleged quotes from Mbappe's family/advisor - basically saying Mbappe has a choice whether to go to a super club or to an intermediate club (presumably to get more playing time and then move to the super club). Reading between the lines - if we manage to be that intermediate club I wouldn't mind at all! 4 years of Mbappe and then sell him to Real Madrid for a profit.

I think he'll still go straight to Madrid and they may loan him back to Monaco for another season

Interesting to hear the alleged quotes from Mbappe's family/advisor - basically saying Mbappe has a choice whether to go to a super club or to an intermediate club (presumably to get more playing time and then move to the super club). Reading between the lines - if we manage to be that intermediate club I wouldn't mind at all! 4 years of Mbappe and then sell him to Real Madrid for a profit.

I think he'll still go straight to Madrid and they may loan him back to Monaco for another season

Possibly a ploy to get Madrid to move and maybe pay a bit extra. If he goes there, he won't be on the bench.

Rumours of us buying likes of Kjaer and Onyekuru are more likely to happen.

Onyekuru should happen anyway - young players around £5m should be seen as bonus business on top of what we require for the first team. Sometimes they won't work out and you might lose money, but sometimes you get a Rob Holding who must have increased his value 10 fold on his transfer fee. I know it isn't really about value it is about how they can perform in the first team, but when we have so many first team players who contributed zero to the first team last year there is more than enough space in the squad for some talented young players because as much as I don't think Wenger cuts it as a title winning manager I do still think he has an eye for a player with potential.

Essentially it's a guide to mild-manneredness tm and how even when you think catastrophe is staring you in the face it's time to just let things crinkle out, whittle yourself a kipper, and maybe hum The Surrey with the fringe on top while musing over that wonderful double-winning Tottenham side and just take things sunny-side up because in the end it don't add up to a whole hill of beans in this crazy world of ours.

What will be will be, all in good time, the time to cut a stick is when you've considered it for a while, somebody will come along to make the old onion bag bulge again, keep them doggies moving etc.

The manage may move. He may not move. And that's fine because tectonic shifts do not happen overnight.

Its a bit like Brexit. All this caterwauling from fancy-dan experts about shafting the economy and unleashing xenophobia yet I think they'll be sneering on the other side of their metro-faces when we unveil the big bilateral bad boy of a new trade deal with St Vincent and the Grenadines.

So read my book for an introduction to fun relaxing games like "Tweak the Bern" and "D'ye ken Ted Drake?' as well as songs to sing with the family round the old Joanna like "My Sanchez lies over the Penines" and "Bobby Pires went to sea"

Don't people simply get fed up with politics? It's non-stop. Really who gave a monkeys before Social Networking? Now not only ours but France, Holland, USA and Uncle tom Country as well. People really do need to stop being conned on Twitter and believing everything you see. It's May's fault. No it's Corbyn's fault or the Liberals. the mad left, the crazy right, they silly middle. People are so busy arguing with each, not debating that no one can see the wood for the trees. All parties are as bad as each other looking more for power than to actually do any good. How about for once doing the greater good. Sit down and sort the bloody mess out between them.

I was shocked to find out post Grenfall, that Britain has 5m experts in Cladding.

As much as I would really like Mbappe, I can't help but think with that sort of fee 110+ we could also get 3 great players to strengthen the team.

IMO, the news had all been nothing more but media made up hype, or, Arsenal/Arsene is simply posturing and bluffing. They know Mbappe would not come to Arsenal.

I'd be doing cartwheels if mbappe came to us, chances are incredibly slim so I won't get my hopes up. Also £110m sounds like most of if not all our budget so I can completely get on board with the idea of spreading that £110m around 3 players. For example, Aubamayang's price has been set at £63m. Then another couple of £25m players (who would still both be in our top 6-7 most expensive signings of all time, completes a more rounded squad. The key with it all is retaining Sanchez, Özil and to a lesser extent ox (although I've seen figures of £40m banded about for him)Keep everyone we want to keep, cut the deadwood and get a new striker and new santi and some competition for Bellerin and the squad is ok. Then we've just got to worry about tactics and coaching!

So.............are we going to make a massive statement in this transfer window or will it be a case of what ifs and missed opportunities?

Answers on a postcard please.

Waiting to see whether Alexis and or Özil sign

A lesson in futility My Dear Watson [ Soc ]

No more am I going to check the daily cartload of rehashed sheep sheight rumours about Özil , Sanchez , Mbappe , Higuain , Lacazette Oxo , Pickford etc etc etc ..... I'm just going to wait until the new season starts to see where we are at .

These daily anxiety attacks over lack of transfer activity are pointless ; don't want to steal the Old Man's mild mannered approach

...but it's crossing your bridges before you come to them . If Sanchez has gone , Mbappe , Lacazette don't arrive and the only new additions are the Tree , two fifteen year old Nigerian kids and Jenkinson back from loan ...THEN we can all have a bloody good moan .

Got an annoying ache in my wrist , trying a home grown cure .......some pulverised comfrey under an elasticated arm band .

Apparently works well for horses so I got to thinking why not kiwis ....?

IMO, the news had all been nothing more but media made up hype, or, Arsenal/Arsene is simply posturing and bluffing. They know Mbappe would not come to Arsenal.

I'd be doing cartwheels if mbappe came to us, chances are incredibly slim so I won't get my hopes up. Also £110m sounds like most of if not all our budget so I can completely get on board with the idea of spreading that £110m around 3 players. For example, Aubamayang's price has been set at £63m. Then another couple of £25m players (who would still both be in our top 6-7 most expensive signings of all time, completes a more rounded squad. The key with it all is retaining Sanchez, Özil and to a lesser extent ox (although I've seen figures of £40m banded about for him)Keep everyone we want to keep, cut the deadwood and get a new striker and new santi and some competition for Bellerin and the squad is ok. Then we've just got to worry about tactics and coaching!

It is the very last statement that I worry about. Will Wenger become more tactical or allow his advisers to advise?

I don't have any sympathy for the club because we've allowed contracts to run down and are now either being faced with losing top players for a fraction of their true worth or having to pay them far more than they are actually worth to keep them knowing that we'd have to fork out evn bigger transfer fees to attempt to replace them.

I've said before, it's a right mess.

If our transfer activities are indeed frozen because of the uncertainty surrounding Alexis and Özil then it seems like the tail is wagging the dog.

Morning SocWhole situation is ridiculous. Why say you want to keep a player and want to make him the future of the club before the cup final then don't even offer him a new contract to the point where he has a year left in reference to Oxlade Chamberlain. If I was him I'd be proper p***** off. Its like say one thing or do another. Getting sick and tired of this Özil and Sanchez saga. Don't let them hold us to ransom. If they wont stay then sell them. That 80 to 90 million can further go to strengthening the squad. They are not bigger than the club. Cant afford to let whole saga drag on at the whim of these 2.We just seem to come across as so amateur sometimes.

And why wouldn't they hold off negotiating new contracts when they just watched their manager run his contract to expiry.